Also:

Received this photo from a couple of readers today, and had to post it for all of the Dogsters sweating it out in these horrendously hot dog days of summer. Here’s what Laura Hickman, the photographer of this icy masterpiece, wrote on the Facebook page where she posted the photo: “This is Elliot, an English Bulldog, and this is an un-posed picture (trust me, you couldn’t actually make Elliot do anything) of said pooch trying to beat the Ohio heat after his owners emptied their cooler in the driveway in Cuhahoga Falls, Ohio.”

Here’s to keeping cool this weekend, Dogsters! (I’m about to go from San Francisco’s high of 68 degrees to yet another 110-degree locale for research for my book, Soldier Dogs. I think I’ll bring along my very own bucket of ice…)